16 BULLETIN 627, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
than a single header could cover, but the grain would yet have to be 
hauled for stacking or thrashing. 
The straw remains on the fieid, which is undesirable in many sec- 
tions where there is not sufficient moisture in the soil to cause it to 
decompose if turned under. This feature is also an objection on 
farms where it is desired to use the straw for bedding, since it re- 
quires considerable time and labor to cut and haul the straw after it 
has been headed. 
In those sections where thrashing from the shock is the common 
practice, and where most of the thrashing is done by large custom 
outfits whose owners furnish the entire crew, the grain that has been 
headed, and of course stacked, ordinarily is left until all shock 
thrashing on the route has been completed, since thrashing from the 
stack does not require so many men, and no bundle teams. The owner 
of the rig naturally wishes to complete all the work where his entire 
crew will be needed before laying some of them off and beginning 
work that will require fewer men and horses. On the other hand, in 
those sections where heading is the most common practice, the stacks 
probably will be given preference, since the crops of the largest grow- 
ers usually will be headed, and the custom thrashers naturally prefer 
to make sure of the largest jobs. 
The sizes of headers most commonly used are 12 and 14 feet. A 
six-horse team is found mest commonly on the twelve-foot machine, 
although eight horses are sometimes employed where the grain is 
particularly heavy or where the land is in such condition as to make 
a very heavy draft. On the fourteen-foot machine eight horses are 
used most frequently. 
A fair day’s work of ten hours with a twelve-foot header is about 
24 acres, and with a fourteen-foot machine about 28 acres. The 
acreage covered in ten hours by a given size of header will not, of 
course, vary greatly with the different sized crews, provided the crew 
is sufficient to keep the header at work. 
The additional men and horses required vary considerably in 
different sections and under different conditions—that is, according 
to the yield of grain, the distance the loads must be hauled to the 
stacks, and the character of the ground over which hauling is done. 
For instance, in the wheat-growing sections of Washington and 
Oregon the ground is hilly and the yield of wheat heavy. Here a 
common crew is four header wagons, each with one driver and two 
horses, one man loading, one man stacking, and another to help pitch 
off at the stack, making a total of eight men and sixteen horses, 
whereas in the Middle West, where the ground is level and the yield 
comparatively light, many headers are operated with six horses and 
only two header wagons, each with a driver and two horses, one 
loader and one man at the stack, making a total of five men and ten 
horses. 
